


A Bat, a Cat, and a Clown

by Wonderdogfrog



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Gotham (TV), Gotham - Fandom
Genre: Bruce is 14, F/M, I'll add tags later, I've had this idea for a while so here it is, Jerome is 16, M/M, Rated T for later chapters, Selina is 15, minor characters - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-12
Updated: 2017-04-29
Packaged: 2018-10-18 04:11:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10609026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wonderdogfrog/pseuds/Wonderdogfrog
Summary: What seemed like an ordinary Saturday evening turns out to have much longer effects than Bruce Wayne would have ever thought of.





	1. Chapter 1

It's not that Bruce disliked the idea of having more than just Selina as a friend, he liked having her as a friend, it's just he wasn't the most social kid. Even before his parents were murdered he never liked interacting with other kids. It was Alfred that brought up the subject. Of course Bruce would like more friends, especially ones his own age, having Jim and Alfred as friends wasn’t really that fun, but Bruce would never admit it. He really did want more friends his age but he was awkward and shy, he never knew what to say or what friends did, the only experience he's had with kids his own age were with Selina, which meant stealing and hiding.

Saturday's were normally spent by Alfred training Bruce how to fight, but today Alfred insisted on letting Bruce go out with Selina for a “date” so training was cut short that evening. Bruce didn't mind Alfred butting into his business with Selina but he did feel it was somewhat personal. He loved Alfred with his heart but to him Alfred needed to pick a side with Selina, did he want her in or out of Bruce's life? Bruce smiled at the thought, Alfred was such a worry wart in his opinion, he always fussed over Bruce but that wasn't really Alfred’s fault, he took role of Bruce's guardian which was a huge responsibility, watch over the world’s wealthiest child in the most crime ridden city. It was difficult on both their parts and Bruce couldn't really blame Alfred for that. 

Just as Alfred requested Bruce went out into the harsh streets of Gotham, of course Alfred was worried but he knew Selina would protect Bruce if needed. Bruce was dressed in his idea of “street” clothes, which was basically just a gray long sleeved shirt and black slacks, he stuck out more than he'd like, he would have worn the clothes Selina got him a while back but Alfred threw them out, claiming they were filthy and probably had some bugs in them. The two wandered the streets looking for something, anything to do. They walked through an alley way, which made Bruce uneasy, he wondered why Selina chose to cut across through an alley at this time of day, in hopes of finding something to do. 

“Is there anything you actually planned for us?” Bruce asked as they continued walking, he kept checking their surroundings, hoping there wouldn't be any repeats of what happened the last time he went down an alley.

“Not really, I was just making it up as we go” Selina looked a Bruce, she saw how worried he was and she couldn't help but feel sorry for the kid, she knew what it was like to lose parents, however she still knew her mother was alive, she had to be, she could feel it.

They continued to walk aimlessly around the city, Selina occasionally pit pocketing some poor sap or stealing from a street vender, Bruce liked hanging out with Selina, even if she was the exact opposite of him he still liked her, she was nice and kind more so than she let on, Bruce understood she cared for people, she would never admit it though. Bruce knew Selina cared for him, just as he does for her. 

Without anything better to do the duo made their way to the park to people watch. It was actually a nice evening to Gotham standards, the sky was a pretty mix of pink and orange, a few clouds would pass over the duo ever so often, a crow could be heard in the trees above them, and a breeze would pass every so often, it was a lovely evening despite being in a dangerous city. Both Selina and Bruce had settled on a bench near a tree, it's shade casted over them, it was calming to Bruce, a feeling he hasn't experienced in a while. They sat in silence for a while, watching people pass, it was Bruce who broke the silence.

“So, what are we gonna do this evening?” Bruce asked as he leaned back onto the bench, placing his hands in his lap and turned his head to look at Selina. 

Selina looked at Bruce for a second then she leaned back and placed her hands behind her head, looking up at the sky, her face looked as if she was think of what they could do that wouldn't get Bruce’s overprotective butler to blow a fuse or worse. 

“Well, I would suggest we go mess with some goons I know but I think your butler would hang me from a building if I let you get involved” Selina said, giving a small chuckle.

“We don't have to tell him you know” Bruce chimed, as if he was proud of the suggestion.

“Yeah you could do that but I chose life, and dude, no offense but you couldn't lie if it was to save your own life, much less try to get away with something like that with Alfred.” 

Bruce mumbled something and let out a defeated sigh, he leaned his head on Selina shoulder looking at her with wide eyes “Come on Selina, we have to do something, Alfred told me I can't stay inside all day “playing” detective or trying to fight him.” Selina smiled at Bruce and shrugged him off.

“Okay okay, how about…oh no, never mind, Alfred would have my head if I suggested that” Selina said turning her head to hide her sly smile.

“What is it? Come on tell me” Bruce demanded, inching closer to Selina and looking at her with wide eyes as a plead.

“No we shouldn't” she had him right where she wanted.

“We can do it, whatever it is, come on you can't say stuff like that and not tell me!” He grabbed her arm and started shaking her.

“Well, if you insist” she was grinning at this point, she grabbed Bruce's hands so he'd stop shaking her and turned her head to face him. “We could go to the circus, there's someone I know who works there…well more like lives there.” 

“Sweet! I've always wanted to go to the circus” Bruce smile ear to ear “so who is it you know?” He asked, cocking his head. 

She looked at him with an excited grin and had light in her eyes.  
"Jerome Valeska.”


	2. Chapter 2

Haly’s Circus was bizarre.Beautiful and shimmering lights filled their vision as Bruce and Selina made their way through the busy Saturday night guest. Crowds of people were circled around performer after performer. There was a guy swallowing swords to their right, a trio of clowns juggling to the left, a clown was making balloon animals for the children that surrounded her, bells went off in the distance claiming someone had won a prize at one of the game booths, howls of laughter could be heard all around. There was a huge Ferris wheel that illuminated the scene in bright neon light. It was beautiful and worth the long walk to get there.

“There” Selina pointed to a huge tent in the distance “just past the biggest tent is where they keep the caravans, that's where we'll find Jerome.” 

Bruce nodded and the two made their way to the tent. Bruce felt nervous about meeting Jerome, who was he to Selina? An ex-boyfriend? A relative? He didn't want to think about it too much. He was curious to what he looked like though. Was he tall? Did he have any tattoos? How old was he exactly? How did Selina know this Jerome? A million questions went threw Bruce's mind and before he knew it they were there. It was hectic getting through the dense crowds but they made it to their destination.

“So which of these is his?” Bruce asked looking at each of the caravans closely, there were so many, he wondered if Selina could find the one they were looking for.. 

“Umm, hold on” Selina went around the small area as if looking for something, Bruce didn't know what but he followed her as she wandered around. 

She lead them to a ring of small caravans, in the center there was a barrel fire and a few chairs, more string lights were hung over head, soft light illuminated the area. Selina stopped in front of one of the vans, it had what appeared to be a cage with something moving inside it. A snake. Bruce turned pale, just who was this Jerome Valeska and why did he have a snake? Selina must have seen his expression because she sighed and shook her head. 

“Don't wuss out because of a stupid snake, she docile so don't worry.” She reassured Bruce but he was still cautious of the reptile. 

Selina extended a fist and knocked on the door. It was silent for a while before some rustling could be heard from inside. Someone was definitely home. A moment passed and the door opened. 

A red headed teen was the one who answered, he looked annoyed and tired as if he just woke up. His hair stuck out in weird places and he was in an old band shirt, part of the logo had been faded, and jeans that were equally as faded and worn.

“What do you want?” His voice was groggy and low, yeah he definitely just woke up. 

Selina gave him a small smile “Is that anyway to greet your favorite person in the world?” Bruce looked confused, was this the Jerome she was talking about? If so he didn't look like anything Bruce was thinking of. 

The other teens expression changed a bit, first it was confusion then he smiled and practically jumped out of the doorway to embrace Selina in a tight hug. He stated to laugh a bit as he spun Selina around in his arm as if she weighed like nothing. Bruce jumped back a little at this and looked surprised and shocked. So this was indeed Jerome 

“Oh Selina it is you!” He set her down but still kept her in his arms, he looked liked he was about to burst with happiness by the way he was grinning. Bruce felt something brewing inside him, was it jealousy? No, Bruce couldn't be jealous of this guy, true he was a bit handsome with his orange hair and is strong jawline and the slight freckles that were scattered across his cheeks and his eyes were really enchanted, and oh course his face was absolutely gorge-  
Bruce stopped his train of thought there before he could even come to that conclusion. 

Jerome went on babbling to Selina and ignoring Bruce completely. The conversation was mostly Jerome talking and asking her questions along the lines of “it's been far too long”, “how have you been?” And many apologies for not calling and a few “I missed you so much”. 

Selina finally got a chance to talk over all of Jerome’s questions and apologies “Jerome chill, I missed you too.” Selina seemed just as happy to see him too. 

Jerome turned his attention to Bruce, eyes him up and down, Bruce could see that Jerome towered over him by about a foot and Selina by a few inches, he turned back to Selina “who is that?” Jerome let go of his hold on Selina and stepped closer to Bruce.

“I'm Bruce Wayne, pleasure to meet you” Bruce extended a hand and Jerome chuckled at his polite mannerism and took the billionaire’s hand into his own. 

“Jerome Valeska” he smiled warmly and turned back to Selina “so where'd you find this one?” 

Selina laughed and bit and pulled Jerome in a headlock and rustled his hair “I found this one abandoned in an alley.” Jerome started to laugh along with Selina and tried to get out of her hold but it seemed like he was just letting her do that, if anything he could have broken away by now.

“Selina I'm serious” Jerome finally got out of Selina’s grasp and reversed the move on her to where Selina was now in a headlock.

“Actually she did kinda meet me in an alley” Bruce said in a nervous voice, he didn't really meet Selina that night but he knew Selina saw him and the events of that evening. 

“Seems like an odd place to find a billionaire don't you think?” Jerome question, he tried to get more details from the two but decided to drop it along with Selina. “Okay you little brat, why are you here? Do I owe you money or did you just come to say hi?” The ginger smirked.

“Well I just came to say hi and introduced you to my friend here but if you're don't want us we can always leave.” Selina suggested.

“Well you can stay if you want” Jerome said walking back up the steps of his caravan “but I think you guess should come inside before anyone finds out you're back here.” He opened the door and gestured for them to come inside while he held the door for them.

***  
The insides of the caravan were small. The kitchenette and small dining area were against the walls in the center, there where two small area closed off by curtains, one at each end of the caravan. Bruce could only assume they were bedrooms. There was also a small room off the side of the kitchenette, most likely the bathroom. It wasn't incredibly uncomfortable, Selina and Bruce were sat at the little booth for the dining area, there were magazines and coupon books scattered across along with a few stray condiment packets that had various fast food logos on them. The booth itself was a bit sticky and had a bit of an odor but it wasn't unbearable. Okay maybe to Bruce it was but to Selina it felt a bit like home. Jerome stood at the kitchenette putting on a pot of coffee for the unexpected duo that randomly showed up at his home. 

Jerome then took down three mugs, one was light blue, another was white with small red flowers forming a small circle around the mug, and the last one had the name of a city on it that was worn to where it was barely recognizable. After a few minutes Jerome took the coffee off and pour the hot liquid into the mugs. He handed the blue mug to Selina and the flower one to Bruce.

Jerome leaned back against the counter in the kitchenette and sipped some of his coffee before Selina broke the silence. 

“So how's your mom? Is she still dating Owen?” She examined her coffee before taking a drink.

“She's doing fine, and yeah she's still dating that low life, if you even call what they do dating.” Jerome said with a bit of anger in his voice, Bruce felt a bit awkward and looked down at his coffee, he felt like it'd be rude to ask for anything else so he just forced it down despite the bitter taste, Jerome hadn't put anything in it so it was just plain and unpleasant. 

There was more awkward silence before Jerome noticed Bruce struggled to drink his coffee without looking like he would vomit. 

“Jesus kid if you just want something else to drink tell me.” Jerome chuckled and took the mug out of the younger ones hands. He poured the coffee from Bruce's mug down the sink and grabbed a glass from one of cupboards. He then filled it with water from the tap and handed it to Bruce who was more than thankful while he drank a huge gulp to get rid of the horrid aftertaste from the coffee. 

“So how do you know Selina?” Bruce asked looking at Jerome. 

“Well I've know her about five, six years? I met her because she thought it'd be a good idea to try and steal from some of the caravans when everyone was working, however she didn't expect to find me home when she planned on breaking into ours rights here.” Jerome shot Selina a glacé as if he were still mad at her for the incident. 

“For the record” Selina interrupted “I didn't think anyone was home, I didn’t know he was home but I'm glad it was him that caught me instead of his mom.” 

“You wouldn't be alive if she found you, you're lucky I was generous that day and decided to tell everyone you were a friend, you would have been a goner otherwise.” Jerome laughed and so did Selina, Bruce smiled, he decided he liked Jerome, he seemed like a nice guy. 

“Yeah well you should have seen your face when I broke in, I still remember that scream, I swear the entire city could have heard you.” Jerome turned red at what Selina brought up. 

“Yeah well when you're eleven and a strange kid starts to climb in from the window you're gonna wanna scream bloody murder” Jerome looked ready to strangle Selina if need be. 

“Hey, remember that one night we tried to drive your mom’s truck? She was so pissed” Selina mentioned 

“I don't think you were allowed near our caravan for two months, she didn't like you much after that.” Jerome commented 

“Your mom loves me, just like you do” Selina said with a grin. 

“Yeah of course we love you, you wiggled your way into our hearts, hell I think she might have changed her will to where you get everything” Jerome took Selina's now empty mug and filled it back up with coffee for her. 

“Oh great, I get a a smelly caravan and a snake, your mother is so generous.” She said in a heavily sarcastic voice. Bruce smiled, he might not have been part of the conversation but he felt happy, he butted in with another question.  
“Did you two ever date?” He asked in a nervous voice, his cheeks going a soft shade of pink. 

“Did we ever date? No, I'd rather kiss Sheba but then again I'm sure it'd be pretty much the same.” Jerome snickered 

“Shut up asshole, why don't you tell him the real ready we were never together” Selina looked at Jerome with a sly smile 

“Well we were just good friends, I saw nothing romantic between us, and so did she” Jerome seemed like he was avoiding saying something “that and well I don't really swing that way.” Jerome’s cheeks were red again. 

Before Bruce could ask what that meant the door for the caravan stated to jiggle. The door opened and the smell of cheap alcohol and cigarettes hit Bruce's nostrils nearly making him gag. There was a lady with thick black locks and tan skin standing in the doorway with a guy in clown makeup that smelt terrible.

“Hello mother. Owen.” Jerome said in a low voice “I thought you were working all night.” 

“Oh don't get your pants in a twist, I just came by for my handbag.” The woman spoke and left to other side of the caravan which must have been her room, she soon disappeared behind the curtains. 

“Owen, you look well” Jerome tried to make small talk but Bruce could see he was tense. The older man was still in the door way eyeing Jerome, he looked like he could kill a man or two. Jerome still stood by the counters, his shoulders were hunched and he was eyeing the floors Selina just looked at her half drunk coffee, Bruce was looking back and forth from Selina and Jerome looking confused. 

A few moments later Jerome’s mom came back out from her room with a purse in hand, she looked at Selina and Bruce, she gave Selina a small smile then turned to Jerome.

“I thought we said no guest while I'm not here?” His mom took out a thing of lipstick and started to apply it. 

“They sorta just dropped by mother, you know Selina, she shows up from nowhere.” He kept his eyes to the floor but his mother took his chin in between her thumb and index finger to make him look at her, she was a few inches shorter than him. 

“Look at me, do not, and I repeat, do not let her near my truck, or I will make sure you three never see daylight again.” She said in a low voice and shoved Jerome, she and the man left the caravan, leaving a tense atmosphere for the three to deal with. 

“Well when she puts it like that” Jerome smirked “lets have some fun shall we?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally finished with this chapter!!  
> Next update will be next Saturday (4/29) since Gotham comes back but after that it'll be every Wednesday or Friday depending on how much I work on it  
> Please rate/review so I know how I'm doing <3  
> Also find me on Tumblr @underdogfrog


	3. Chapter 3

Sure, Bruce was okay with occasionally breaking Alfred's rules, like sneaking into a circus with Selina to meet a friend, but stealing a car was kinda pushing it. Jerome had threw on his coat and shoes and basically shoved both Bruce and Selina outside in a rush. Jerome had keys for his mother’s truck that was a given, but taking without permission was most definitely stealing. 

“Are you sure you know how to drive?” Bruce question as the three made their way to the designated area set aside for vehicles. It was small and not as well lit as the residential area. There were a few cars and there was the truck, it was black, had a thin white stripe going down the side, it had dirt scattered across the lower half of the frame and only two doors, no back seats. 

“Kid,I've been driving my drunken mother back home from bars since I was ten” Jerome gave Bruce a confident grin and opened the passenger side doors for Selina and Bruce “so don't worry.” 

“So how do you expect all three of us to fit in this piece of crap?” Selina looked at Jerome with a questionable look. 

“Oh relax sweetheart, one of you can sit in the middle.” Jerome gave them both a huge smile and Bruce and Selina climbed in.  
Bruce sat in the middle and Selina in the passenger seat, Jerome closed their door and walked around to the driver’s spot, he got it and buckled up before putting the key in the ignition. 

“Okay, where to first?” Jerome asked, looking at Selina and Bruce. 

***  
Driving around in a stranger truck wasn't really what Bruce had planned but it was indeed fun. Jerome was going a little over the speed limit just enough to make Bruce slightly uncomfortable, the radio was playing one pop song after another with all three of the teens singing slightly off key, none of them really knew where they wanted to go so they just settled on driving around. 

The road they traveled on was dark. Only illuminated by the trucks headlights and occasionally a neon sign they would pass. They had the windows rolled down letting the cool night air fill the car. Jerome drove to a part of town Bruce wasn't familiar with and that's when his mood began to shift. 

“So where are we heading exactly?” Bruce piped up in a quiet voice. Jerome looked at him for a quick second before focusing once again on the road. 

“You'll see, it's a place Selina and I hung out at.” He gave Bruce a sly grin and continued down the dark street. 

What felt like hours to Bruce they pulled up to an abandoned building that looked like it had been there for longer than any of the three had been alive, maybe it was even there before Alfred. Bruce felt nervous, maybe he shouldn't have done this. Either way there was no turning back now, Jerome turned the key and the engine fell silent. Jerome turned to face Bruce and Selina with a grin that stretched across his face. He looked really cute when he smiled like that Bruce thought but immediately caught himself before speaking. 

“So this is the place?” His voice was quiet and shaken.

“Yep.” Jerome unbuckled his seatbelt, opened the door and basically sprang out. He rushed to the other side of the truck to open the door for Selina. Selina and Bruce both unbuckled, Bruce having a slight delay due to his shaking hands, both of them climbed out as Jerome closed the door behind them. The ginger haired teen began to walk, more like run, up to the building. Selina was eagerly wanting to follow Jerome but she felt something grab at her arm and weight her down as Jerome disappeared into the abandoned structure.

“Bruce, let go.” She demanded, trying to pry the small boy off her. 

“Selina I think we should go” Bruce surveyed their surroundings and was getting a bad feeling, like something was bad would happen “what if this leads to something bad? Can we trust Jerome? I mean I like him but this isn't exactly legal and we're cutting this close because Alfred might call the police an-“ Bruce was cut off by Selina putting a finger to his lips and shushing him. 

“Bruce, chill”she began to walk towards the building in a slowed manner because of the small boy that was attached to her arm, he wasn't letting go and was trying to drag her back. 

“Selina! I'm serious, Alfred will kill us if he knows we did this.” He pleaded and pleaded to go back but Selina kept on walking with Bruce basically being a hand bag. 

“Bruce come on, you were the one that want to do this, I even said you didn't want to hear me out at the park but you insisted, now lets go find Jerome.” She dragged a whining Bruce along side her as she approached the building. 

Selina carefully opened one of the doors that made a terrible creaking sound from ages of neglect. She stepped inside with Bruce practically glued to her arm, his grip was tight and he was determined not to let go as if she was his life line. They crept through the dark hallways trying to fine Jerome, it seemed like he just vanished because there was no sign of him anywhere. This is when Selina started to show some concern to match Bruce. 

“Jerome?” She called out. She place her free hand on Bruce's head, the poor kid was shaking and looked terrified, she probably knew this was a bad idea but Bruce was stubborn. The two didn't really get the response they were hoping for, while walking down the corridor both of them searched for the ginger haired teen they heard footsteps behind them. 

Selina was starting to get antsy and Bruce looked like he wanted to go home, he wasn't gripping her arm anymore but he was still holding her hand. They continued down the hallways but as they turned a corner to look down another part they were greeted by Jerome jumping out and yelling “boo” as loud as he possibly could. Selina jumped back and swung her arm out, hitting Jerome in the face, Bruce let out out a scream that echoed through the empty halls and hid behind Selina. Huddled over on the floor holding his nose Jerome was laughing like a maniac. 

“Holy shit, that was awesome” he said in between laughs. He looked at one of his hands that had a fair amount of blood, stood up and held his nose in his jacket to try and stop the bleeding. Jerome then focused his attention to Bruce and Selina. Selina looked ready to kill him and Bruce was breathing heavily and looked like her could faint at any moment.

“Just what the hell was that for?” Selina stepped forward and shoved Jerome slightly.

“Relax, I apologize but come on, that was awesome, did you hear Brucie scream?” He smile and chuckled a bit, he looked at Bruce with an apologetic look. Bruce was still behind Selina and was shaking. 

“Is you nose okay?” Bruce piped up but was looking at the ground, cheeks flushed a light pink. 

“Huh? Oh right, yeah it's fine” Jerome moved the now blood stained sleeve of his jacket and saw that blood was still dripping from his nostrils. 

“Shit, this was my favorite jacket, Selina was that really necessary?”

“Well, you nearly scared me half to death so yes I say it was totally necessary.” She said in a matter of fact tone. 

“Okay fair enough” Jerome used his soiled sleeve to wipe the rest of the blood. 

“Did that hurt?” Bruce asked, looking at Jerome with concerned eyes.

“Kid don't worry, she did this a lot when we were younger” Jerome used his blood free hand to rustle Bruce's hair and smiled “okay, you ready to look around? Me and Selina came here a lot as kids.” 

Bruce smiled slightly and nodded, his was starting to calm down and he felt safe with Jerome and Selina. Jerome smile and checked with Selina for approval, she nodded and gave him a quick glare,  
Jerome lead them up an old flight of stairs, Selina followed behind Jerome, she held Bruce's hand because he still refused to let go. They continued up several flights before Jerome made them stop at a door that said “Outside Access”. 

“We're going to the roof?” Bruce gripped Selina's hand abbot tighter, Jerome turned his attention to Bruce before nodding with a smile, he opened the door and it let out another horrendous sound. 

A cold breeze hit the trio but that didn't stop them from going out. Bruce could admit the view was pretty nice. They weren't high up but they could still see the distance lights of Gotham city, it hadn't occurred to Bruce they weren't near the city, they drove to a remote outskirts of Gotham. The lights shimmered in the distance as Bruce watched and listened, cars honking and wheels humming, it was certainly beautiful to see the city like this instead of the ugly side that Bruce had recently discovered. Bruce turned his attention back to Jerome when he motioned for both of them to follow him to the edge of the building. Jerome hopped up on the ledge and sat, Selina made Bruce let go and sat next to Jerome but in a position only a cat could find comfortable. Bruce didn't like the idea of accidentally falling so he stood to the other side of Jerome and looked out, it was a nice view. They sat in silence for a while before Selina broke it. 

“How long are you staying?” Her voice sounded scared, like she didn't want an answer.

“Few weeks, maybe a month if I'm lucky” Jerome didn't look at Selina, like he was ashamed, but of what? 

“Why wouldn't you be staying?” Bruce asked, he didn't really understand why Jerome and Selina brought of the idea of him leaving, they hadn't seen each other in years, why would Jerome leave?

“Circus, we go wherever money is good, we've gotten popular so we can't really stay in one area for long” Bruce saw Jerome’s face, it was smiling and glowing like it was before, he looked sad and hurt. 

“Is that why you two haven't see each other?” Bruce asked quietly

“Yes” Jerome's voice wavered “The circus became popular a few years ago, before we would visit Gotham every year, so I got to see Selina for a while” he smile slightly and took Selina's hand into his “but when I was twelve they stopped coming here because they wanted to expand with audiences” Jerome paused to look at Selina “we haven't seen each other in four years, but when we were younger we kinda just clicked, we were good friends” Jerome smiled sadly at Selina and she returned it “I'm glad we found each other though” Selina smiled a bit more and leaned her head on Jerome's shoulder. Bruce watched them and felt something, he'd never had a close friend before but he felt close to Selina, and now he felt close to Jerome. 

“Then what are you doing here?” Bruce asked, placed he arms on the ledge and leaned on them “if you stopped coming here for years why now did they decide to come back?” 

“They just missed it I guess” Jerome shrugged and smiled at Bruce, he place a hand up to stop Bruce from asking another question “you've had your questions, stop asking before I push you off this building.” Bruce chuckled slightly, he mimicked Selina and leaned his head on Jerome's other shoulder. 

“Oh so I'm both your pillow now?” Jerome let out a defeated sigh and laughed a bit “Fine, let me be a pillow but I hope I'm not a good pillow” 

“Shut up, you the best pillow in the world” Selina laughed and Bruce joined in, the three were now laughing but didn't see the shadowy figure below.  
Their laughter was interrupted by a gruff voice yelling “Hey what are you doing up there?!” Followed by a flash of light showering them, Jerome took both Selina and Bruce's hand told them to move. 

He lead them back down the stairs but they were cut off by the light again “okay not that way” Jerome looked around and ran with them back upstairs to what was the second floor, he let go of their hands and went to the nearest window, they were a few feet up but nothing too serious to where they couldn't jump without injuries. Jerome quickly opened the window as fast as he could with the window delaying due to build up. He got it open enough to where even he could fit through. He told Bruce and Selina to crawl through, he helped Bruce first since he was small, he lifted him up and go him out, there was a thud and a small “ow”. He got Selina through no problem and next was him but he could see the light approaching and the voice. He panicked and hurried out the window which was more like him flinging himself out and falling on the ground. It was lumpy and seemed to move underneath Jerome, it was until he heard a tiny “ow” that he realized he landed on top of Bruce.  
“Sorry kid” Jerome helped Bruce up and saw Selina near some bushes, looking to see if there was anyone else was there. Luckily for them there was only one guard but they had to be quick to get back to Jerome’s truck. 

They could see the light inside the building, the guard was now on the first floor and seemed to be speaking into a radio on his uniform. Jerome cursed and rushed Selina and Bruce to get in the truck. 

Jerome took his seat with Bruce and Selina sitting where they were originally. They all buckled up pretty quick and Jerome started the car. It was at that moment the security guard ran out to see them pulling away. The man got into his own police car that was parked close to where Jerome's truck had been and started to speed after them, sirens blaring and lights flashing.  
Jerome sped down the dark street with flashing neon red and blue lights behind him, he knew his mother would kill him for taking the truck but he didn't want her to bail him out for trespassing, she'd probably do something worse. 

Jerome tried hard to focus on the road and to avoid the trailing police but Selina and Bruce weren't making it easy. Selina was shouting for him to speed up and cut corners and Bruce was clinging to Jerome. He kept trying to tell Selina to shut up and told Bruce to get off but of course neither were listening and the car was still following them. 

Bruce wasn't in the best condition, being in the middle wasn't fun with the truck shaking around and making sharp turns, he was glad he hadn't eaten much that day because he was sure that it'd be coming back up and Jerome would probably kill him for vomiting in his mother’s truck. Selina wanted to strangle Jerome for not listening to her and turn left when he should have turned right. 

“You gonna get us killed, go right!” She shouted 

“Shut up!” 

Selina and Jerome went about arguing but Jerome was only half listening, he was too busy focusing which road to go down and where exactly they were, he knew if could at leas get back to the main road they'd be fine. He could see the lights gaining some distance so he knew he could loss them if he could just get into the city. He made a sharp turn that lead them on a road straight into the up town part of the city. Jerome could still see the cop behind them but he was gaining so distant from them. He made a right turn and down a dark alley way. He turned off the headlights and engine before commanding Selina and Bruce to duck down, they obeyed. As they crouched down out of sight they saw flashes of red and blue go by with high pitched sirens following, then they faded. 

They were in the clear. 

Jerome sat back up and let out a shaky sigh before laughing “holy shit that was fun!” 

Selina joined in on the laughter as did Bruce, they were all shaking with adrenaline and excitement. 

Jerome smiled and put the key back in the ignition but there was nothing, the engine let out a low hum but didn't start. 

“You're joking right?” Jerome banged his head against the stirring wheel and let out a grunt.

“What's wrong?” Bruce asked, placing a hand on the older boy’s shoulder

“The engine won't turn over.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter!! Kinda rushed so no edit but eh k got it out  
> I think I'm gonna start updating on Saturdays now because this week was hectic so yeah  
> Anyway enjoy!


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